Red Cross cleared of fraud over Bali survivors fund

Red Cross cleared of fraud over Bali survivors fund

Mary Longmore, Associated Press, Sydney, Australia

An independent audit on Friday cleared the Australian Red Cross
of defrauding victims of the Bali bomb blasts, but said the
charity could have better disclosed how it was spending millions
of dollars in donations.

The audit by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers was
commissioned by the Red Cross after complaints that it had not
given victims of the Oct. 12 blasts enough of the A$14.8 million
(US$9.8 million) raised through a public appeal.

The findings were published the day after "smiling bomber"
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim was sentenced to death for his role in the
bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.
Another 153 Australians were seriously injured, most of them with
severe burns.

The Red Cross has helped 523 Australians affected by the
bombing, with A$9.9 million ($6.5 million) allocated directly to
victims and their families, of which A$5.5 million ($3.6 million)
has been distributed, the audit said.

The auditors found the charity could have better communicated
with the public on the progress and direction of spending but
overall "coped remarkably well" given the size of the task.

The report questioned the funding of two projects; where
A$500,000 ($330,000) was spent on research into a "spray-on skin"
burn treatment and a disaster planning project at the Darwin
Hospital. In the days after the bombings, the hospital in
northern Australia was a vital staging post for survivors being
flown home for treatment.

While these projects did not strictly meet the stated
objectives of providing direct assistance to Australian victims
and their families, there was no evidence of "fraud or misuse of
funds," the firm said.

Red Cross vice chairman Brian Ward said the projects were
considered to be sufficiently linked to the tragedy.

Australian Red Cross national chairman Rob O'Regan said the
report clearly found the charity had acted with "honesty,
efficiency and compassion."

"We acknowledge the inefficiencies in our processes and we'll
do something about them," O'Regan told reporters. "We are not
crooks...we tried to do our best in difficult circumstances."

The charity was criticized for allocating 10 percent of the
fund toward administration, but it is now estimated only 4
percent would be needed.

The charity has said almost A$4 million ($2.6 million) had
been spent in Australia on victims and victim programs and
another A$322,000 ($209,300) in Bali. That left about A$10
million ($6.5 million), of which much had been committed to
future victim programs in Australia, Bali and Indonesia.